To wonder how you get rid of your clutter?

[PastelPompoms]

We are in the process of decluttering the house. There is lots I want to go from clothes to toys, towels etc.

I am finding it hard to let go of some things that are new e.g. clothes with labels still in etc. I have tried selling but not much had much luck and I’d rather the things just went than hung around waiting for someone to collect who never shows. I am planning to donate to charity and then take the rest to the tip that’s not worth the charity shop.

How do you get over the thought of losing money by giving so much away? My DP wouldn’t be pleased to know I was giving it away rather than selling due to the money that was originally spent and I think that’s making me hang onto more than I want to.

I can’t think of a better way to try and sell it than eBay or Facebook though.

Just think of it as a good donation to a needy cause - if you try to eBay it it will hang around for ages and be so time consuming to manage. Just bag it all up, take it to several charity shops if one won't take it all and think about it as an investment into a tidy house and a learning curve for the future. Then only buy something if you need it, save buying nice new clothes for an occasion specifically to wear them to, etc.

I have a local lady who lists my stuff on ebay and then I get a percentage and she gets a percentage ).
Anything unsold she takes it to the charity shop for me.
I still list a few bits on ebay in between her collection times .

If you give to a charity shop sign up to be a gift aid donor.

Then you'll get a letter telling you how much your donations have raised plus the gift aid amount. Which is great for the soul.

For the gift aid scheme to work charity shops have to be your agent which means once you get that letter you have a small window of opportunity to get the money raised minus an agent's fee for the charity.

I would NEVER advise doing this but if you were struggling for money, time, space it's an option.

Whatever you bought or were given has served its purpose now. Even if unworn or unused. It's time to pass it on.

I have my DC say goodbye to things if they are struggling to let something go. It seems to help?!

With ebay, use a ebay fee calculator to check whether it is worth selling.

www.ebayfeescalculator.com/uk-ebay-calculator/

I sell a few things that are worth while or not the kind of thing that charity shops would want. The rest is given away and I count it as a charity donation. It's a win-win, the charity gets the donation and raises money for a good cause, you get a less cluttered house!

I’ve cleared loads by offering free for collection on local FB pages. If you genuinely don’t want the money, and do want to clear the clutter, thus could work well.

We have an excellent local share and recycle group on facebook. It works amazingly because everything is listed, even things you wouldn’t necessarily think people would want ( a few weeks ago there was a load of mismatched kitchen tools that someone took for a kids mud kitchen.) People put up puzzles and kids clothes which you see up again a few months later when used or outgrown- and they go on to another user. There is also a lady who volunteers at a dogs trust so she takes all old towels/pillows etc, and someone from a woman’s refuge who’ll occasionally ask for clothes in specific sizes for a new resident.
It stops the guilt from putting things in landfill, or overloading charity shops with bits that probably don’t make them much cash. They don’t allow selling and it’s also local to a specific area of the town so people don’t travel miles to get the items. There’s also a limit of about 5 items per week that you can take to try and stop eBay resellers etc. I really recommend seeing if you have something similar- or maybe starting one!

We did a car boot sale earlier in the year

We took the remainder to a local charity shop

The way I look at things I've wasted money on is:

50% of that money = the joy of buying it / thrill of the purchase and the security the feeling of having [three extra pairs of wellies] gave me at the time.

20% of that money is lesson learned - I won't be that wasteful again.

If having it in the house makes me feel guilty/shit I'd much rather give it away to charity or on a local freebie site. Otherwise I'm just punishing myself whenever I look at it and it's taking up space.

I really enjoy giving stuff away on local freebies pages - ours have very strict rules about collections and it's good karma. Same with giving to charity shops - we all remember our best charity shop bargain and I love the idea that i helped someone find theirs!

Going forward, I try to buy less and shop mainly secondhand. That way all my outgoings are actually charitable donations 😂

@1Morewineplease

We had to empty a parent's house and that process alone changed our views completely on what to keep and what to pass on.

We don't need as much as we think.

We recently cleared my grandparents house and took 44 bin bags of clothing to St. Peter’s hospice bins!

Shocked at how much they had.

@grey12

Btw some charities accept clothes that are too old to be worn. They sell them by weight for insulation or something.

Check with the Charity shops first before you bring in rags - due to covid regulations some will be unable to take them, my DH runs 2 and all his rags have to be put in the rag merchants supplied bags - before covid it was fine he could just place them in the bags - now everything that comes into his shop has to be quarantined for 48 hours which means he cant open any bags until the quarantine period has passed having only 1 quarantine pen means he cant have it filled up with bags of clothing he can only use for rags and run the risk of having to refuse donation bags that may contain good stuff he can put out on the shop floor and sell (eventually)

@Sandsnake

Echoing others - choose a charity that you like and donate it to them. Think of someone finding your item in the shop and being happy to wear it. Much better than it sitting in your cupboard! And think of the money being used by the charity to do good things.

I heard the following on the Marie Kondo programme and it resonated with me: stop thinking of the clothes with tags on as a waste of your money. Instead they have taught you something valuable about what you like to wear and what you don’t. You now know that despite what you thought you don’t like to wear clothes like the ones still with the tags on (or you’d have worn them!). So now you know in the future not to buy things like that. This will ultimately save you money and space in your home.

Good advice!

Download the eBay app (or do what my friends do and ask me to sell stuff for you), it's super simple through and then every time I find something that we don't need, I take a photo (or 5), post it and wait for it to sell. Then it's gone - poof!

Thank you I second that. I have requested by bag. How bay is it? Trying to I figure out how much I can put in it!!

@iSecondThat I forgot to tag you above! 🙈

Hey! @PastelPompoms it’s 600 by 900 it does come with a fold line, with it being a new business we are using this size until we can expand :)!

Follow my instagram and I can message and explain more!

Thank you :)

@ButtWormHole thank you so much for sharing my business - my traffics and clear out packs have gone wild! ❤️

@Wincarnis thank you!